Synchronized tail cutter and suction roll travelling sealing strip



Oct. 28, 1958 R. c. HEYS 2,357,822

SYNCHRONIZED TAIL CUTTER AND SUCTION ROLL TRAVELLING. SEALING STRIPFiled Jan. 12, 1953 2 Sh tsh t 1 Ifiuentor Attorneys Oct. 28, 1958 R. c.HEYS 2,857,822

SYNCHRONIZED TAIL CUTTER AND SUCTION ROLL TRAVELLING SEALING STRIP FiledJan. 12, 1953 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 I By I a aw, z jrliomeys SYNCHRONIZEDTAIL CUTTER AND SUCTION ROLL TRAVELLING SEALING STRIP .Ralph ChalinorHeys, Sheffield, England, assignor to Beloit Iron Works, Beloit, Wis., acorporation of Wiscousin Application January 12, 1953, Serial No.330,830

Claims priority, application Great Britain January 12, 1952 11 Claims.(Cl. 92-38) This invention relates to the manufacture of paper and topaper-making machines, and is particularly concerned With a method ofand apparatus for the rapid and conof the sheet through the presssection, with a jet cutter in advance of the couch roll severing anarrow strip (a tail) at one side of the width (for convenience at the.front side of the machine) to provide at the end of the press sectionnext to the dryer section a strip of coherent and thence to the calendarand reel; and, during this handling of the tail and its passage throughand beyond the dryer section, the remaining and major width of sheetpasses, through the press-section, or through part of that section, tobe doctored ofi a top press roll as broke. With large width machines inparticular, and with the higher speeds of modern machines in general,the quantity of broke formed at the press section is very great, anddisposal of it interferes with the efficient operation of the machine.

Moreover, when a break occurs, broke continues to be produced at the endof the press section until a fresh tail is produced and passed throughthe whole machine. In the absence of automatic means for disposal ofbroke from the machine itself, the sheet may have to be deliberately runto waste at the couch end of the forming wire until the machine has beencleared to permit the fresh passage of a sheet and tail as describedabove.

' In any case, broke has to be doctored off the top roll of the presssection during the period required to pass the tail through the dryersection, and this substantial quantity of broke must be disposed ofbefore the machine is again able to produce finished paper. There isthus considerable wastage of material, time, and labour, and reducedefficiency of the complex and costly assembly that goes to make themodern type of paper-making machine.

Similar difliculties arise in starting up a vacuum-forming machine byautomatic pick-up.

According to the present invention, a process for the United StatesPatent paper capable of being transferred to the dryer section jmanufacture of paper as a continuous operation comprises i 1 the stepsof first forming a continuous Wide flow, or

ribbon, of paper stock of uniform thickness, draining liquid from thatflow, or ribbon, to convert the stock into a continuous web, separatingthe web longitudinally at a point to 'form'a strip alongside theremainder of the main width of the web, running the remaining width awayfrom the strip to waste, picking up the strip by vacuum applied over thewidth' of the strip and forwarding it for continuous removal of furtherliquid by expression and for subsequent drying 'by'h'eat'to formfinished paper, and'then progressively moving the separation pointincreasing the width of the strip until it merges into the full mainwidth and simultaneously increasing the application of the vacuumprogressively to the full width of the web to pick-up the full width,the full width then being forwarded for continuous removal of furtherliquid by exthose essential steps have been performed the progressivepicking up of the full Width of the web to enable afull width of paperto emerge from the last of those steps is performed with the productionof no more waste than arises in the length of web over which theprogressive increase from the strip width to the full width takes place.

Apparatus according to the invention comprises primarily a vacuumpick-up roll, and means movable lengthwise' within the roll oversubstantially the whole perforated length of the roll to vary thelengthwise extent of the periphery of the roll exposed to vacuum. Usedin combination with a paper-web cutting device disposed in advance ofthe pick-up roll and movable transversely of the machine, the pick-uproll may then have the means within it moved in step with the cuttingdevice to pick up a width of paper corresponding to whatever width iscut by the device. In particular, means maybe provided forsimultaneously and progressively moving the cutting device and the meansWithin the roll from corresponding respective positions in which thecutting device is adapted ,to sever a narrow strip of paper web and theroll is able to apply vacuum only to that narrow strip to correspondingrespective positions in which the cutting device is clear of the fullwidth that would be occupied by .the width of paper to be. produced andthe roll is able to apply vacuum to the whole of that full width.

Thus, the suction-box within the pick-up roll may be provided with adeckle or sealing-plate guided to travel lengthwise of the box to make aseal with the inside of the roll shell and with the walls of the box, sothat vacuum is applied only to the part of the shell between thetravelling deckle and a fixed (or adjustably fixed) deckle orsealing-plate near one end of the box (conveniently the end at the frontside of the machine). Progressive movement of the travelling deckle awayfrom the fixed deckle towards the other end of the box exposes more andmore of the shell to vacuum.

The travelling deckle thus permits the roll to pick-up any width ofpaper web from a narrow strip corresponding in width to the distancebetween the fixed deckle and the travelling deckle in its nearestapproach to the fixed deckle, up to the full width corresponding to themaximum distance possible between the deckles.

The suction-box of the suction press roll of the press of the machine(or of the first press of a multi-pres s machine) may be provided with asimilartravelling deckle, progressively movable lengthwise of the rollin step with the travelling deckle of the pick-up roll, so that suctionis applied by the press to the width of the strip only during therunning of the strip through the machine. Consequently, during thisperiod air is not sucked through the part of the suction press roll notcovered by paper web, and the applied suction is effective to bring thewidth of the strip into the best condition for its progression throughthe remaining sections of the machine.

3 Figure 2 is a plan corresponding to Figure l, with the wire and feltsand the top press rolls of the press section omitted;

Figures 3A and 3B are longitudinal sections of the end portions of thesuction pick-up roll shown in Figures 1 and 2;

Figure 4 is a section on the line 4-4 of Figure 3B;

Figure 5 is a perspective view of the travelling deckle shown in Figures3B and 4; and

Figure 6 is a vertical cross-section of the jet cutter shown in Figures1 and 2.

In a Fourdrinier machine, the pick-up roll may cooperate directly withthe couch roll at which the forming wire begins its idle return run tothe breast roll where the paper stock is flowed on to the wire, or itmay cooperate with a length of the wire extending between the couch rolland a returning roll forward, or forward and downward, of the couchroll. The arrangements shown in Figures 1 and 2 has the pick-up rolllocated between the couch roll and the return roll, but it should beunderstood that that location is not essential to all possible methodsof carrying out the invention.

The forming wire 10 is shown passing over a suction couch roll 11 andthence forwardly and downwardly over a run 12 to a forward drive roll13, from which it passes to a wash roll 14 lying above a couch pit 15. Asuction pick-up roll 16 carries a top transfer felt 17 in contact withthe paper web on the wire run 12, and is mounted in arms 18 that arevertically slidable in the machine columns 19 to enable contact of theroll 16 to be broken. The transferred paper web is carried by the felt17 to the press, which in the arrangement shown is of the type havingtwo top press rolls 2%, 21 co-operating with a. single bottom suctionroll 22. The felt 17 leaves the paper web on a bottom felt 23 afterpassing the nip of the rolls 2G, 22, and makes its return run to thepick-up roll 16. The paper web continues on the bottom felt 23 throughthe nip of the rolls 21, 22, the web then passing either through one ormore further presses or direct to the dryer section of the machine, inthe usual manner.

Some little distance before the wire 11? meets the couch roll 11, a jetcutter 24 is mounted with the usual water nozzle (not shown) adjacenteach edge of the paper web to trim the edges. A further jet cutter 25 isnext encountered, this having a single water nozzle 26 (Figure 6)mounted on a guide rod 27 permitting movement of the nozzle across thewhole width of the wire, with means (described below) for bringing thenozzle into position some distance (say 12') from the front edge of thewire.

As shown in Figure 3A, the pick-up roll 16 has a fixed deckle or sealingplate 28 disposed at one end of the perforations 29 of the roll shell30, and this fixed deckle is located near the front edge of the wire. Ascrew 31, parallel to the guide rod 27, forms a traversing means for thenozzle 26, and is operable in synchronism with a traversing screw 32(Figure 3B) for a travelling deckle or sealing plate 33 in the pick-uproll 16.

The deckle 33 is shown in Figure 33 at the furthermost position of itstravel from the fixed deckle 28, i. e., at the farther end of theperforations 29; but rotation of the screw 32 enables it to be broughtto a distance (say 12") from the deckle 28 corresponding to the distanceof the nozzle 26 from the front edge of the wire. The screwed rods 31,32 are driven by separate motors 34, 35 synchronised to give the sametraversing speeds, with suitable gearing 36, 37.

The travelling deckle 33 makes a seal with the inside of a suction box38 extending through the pick-up roll 16 and carried by guides 39 at theends of the roll, and also with the perforated shell 30 opposite theopen mouth of the box 38 between the lengthwise sealing strips 40(Figure 4), this width of perforated shell being covered by the transferfelt 17. The fixed deckle 28 is mounted 'on a short lengthwise screw 41to close the effective 4 length of the box 38, but with liberty to haveits position with respect to the front edge of the wire 10 adjustedwithin fairly narrow limits by rotation of the screw 41. The endmostperforations 29 may thus be cut off from the suction, as also may theendmost perforations 29 at the other end of the roll 16 by varying theposition in which the travelling deckle 33 is brought to rest. Thisprovides for adjustment of suction to widths of paper web less than thewidth of the wire 10.

Before starting up, the pick-up roll 16 is out of contact pith the wire10, and the paper web remains with the wire until, after passing thereturn roll 13, it encounters the first guide roll (or wash roll) 14external to the return run of the wire. The web adheres to the washroll, and is removed by the doctor 42, the waste falling into the couchpit 15, and the clean wire returning to receive a fresh layer of stock.The nozzle 26 is then positioned to sever a narrow strip or tail (say12) from one side of the web, and the travelling deckle 33 is positionedto expose only a corresponding 12 length of the pick-up roll shell 30 tovacuum.

The pick-up roll 16 is brought into contact with the wire 10 by loweringthe arms 18, and can only pick up this 12 tail, the remaining widthcontinuing round the roll 13 to waste as before. The tail proceeds intothe press section 20, 21, 22, where expression of water so much improvescoherence that it can be handled for transfer to the dryer section.Until the tail has passed the dryer section and the final calendar, theremaining width runs to waste, and the press section is kept clear ofall but the tail.

As soon as the tail completes its passage of the machine, the nozzle 26is traversed to increase the width of the tail gradually until thenozzle reaches the other side of the web, and the travelling deckle 33is similarly traversed to expose a greater part of the length of thepick-up roll shell 30 until the full effective width is exposed, so thatat all times the pick-up roll 16 applies vacuum to the width of webdelivered to it. When the nozzle 26 is clear of the web, full-widthpaper is being produced, and this width passes smoothly into and throughthe press section, dryer section, and calendar, to the reel.

If a break occurs in the press or dryer section, (which may be announcedby an alarm-sound or light), the operator traverses the nozzle 26completely across the wire 10, and the pick-up roll 16 is lifted clearby lifting the arms 18. Consequently, all the paper web is directed tothe pit 15, except for the paper already in the press section andbeyond, which has to be removed as broke. As soon as the machine isclear, the pick-up roll 16 is lowered, with the travelling deckle 33already brought to tail width from the front end, and the nozzle 26 ismoved to tail width from the front edge of the wire 10. The new tail isprogressed as before, until the full width is again taken into the presssection.

The suction box 43 of the bottom suction roll 22 may be provided with atravelling deckle or sealing plate 44 traversed by a lengthwise screw 45driven by a motor 46 through gearing 47. Initially positioned at tailwidth from the front of the machine, the deckle 44 moves progressivelyalong the suction roll 22 as the nozzle 26 and deckle 33 similarly moveon increase of the paper web from tail width to full width; in otherwords, the application of suction increased progressively at the samerate that the strip width is increased to the full width of the web.

The arms 18 carrying the pick-up roll 16 are lifted and lowered by meansof a motor 48 that drives screwed rods 49 threaded through the arms 18inside the colurnns 19. A hand-wheel 48A provides for manual adjustmentof the roll 16, and may be used to lower the roll.

The motors 34, 35, 46, and 48 are operated from a control panel 50, withmotors 34, 35, and 46 of the synchronous type and interconnected forsimultaneous operation for some of their motions. The panel 50-has fourpush-buttons in circuits incorporating suitable limit switches to governthe extent of motor-driven movement:

Push-button Operation Other push-buttons may provide for independentoperation of any of the moving parts. Again, the return of the deckles33, 44 to tail-width position may be effected independently of (andlater than) the return of nozzle 26 across the full width of the Wire10.

The motors 34, 35 for the nozzle 26 and the travelling deckle 33 mayalso be so interconnected with thepress drive and the wire drive thatwhen either of these latter, is stopped the nozzle 26 and deckle 33 areautomatically brought into position'to form and pick up a tail onrestarting.

To facilitate transfer of the paper web from the wire to the pick-uproll 16, a spray 51 may be directed against the felt 17 on the roll 16just before it reaches the wire.

Constructional details of the pick-up roll 16 and its fixed andtravelling deckles 28, 33 are clearly shown in Figures 3A and 3B. Theroll shell 16 is freely rotatable (under the pull of the transfer felt17) on bearings 52 in the supporting brackets 53. The suction box 38 hascylindrical ends 54, 55 pressed by springs 56 against stops 57 adjustedto bring the deckles 28, 33 and the sealing strips 40 into correctcontact with the shell 30. The end 54 carries an elbow, 58 forattachment of the usual suction hose 58A (Figure 2), and the end 5'5 isclosed by. a cover 59 having a gland 60 to seal the plain portion 61 ofthe screwed rod 32 where it emerges to carry one of the gears 36.

The cylindrical ends 54, 55 continue into rectangular sections 62, 63,the lower walls 64, 65 of which end at 66, 67 to expose the width of thebox 38 to the perforated periphery of the shell .30 between the sealingstrips 40, over the whole perforated length of the shell. At the frontend of the roll 16, the screw 41, carried in brackets 68 from theunderside of the wal 64, enables the exposed length of the shell to beadjusted in accordance with the width of the paper web laid on the wire10.

When brought by rotation of the screwed rod 32 into contact with the end67 of the wall-65, the travelling deckle 33 occupies a position at therear end of the roll 16 corresponding to the outermost adjusted positionof the deckle 28 at the frontend. By setting of a limit switch in thecircuit of the motor 35, the deckle 33 may be stopped short of the wall65 by an amount corresponding to any inward adjustment of the deckle 28.

As shown in Figure 6, the travelling nozzle 26 and its guide rod 27 andoperating screw 31 are carrier inside a tube 69 with a slot 70 for theemergence of the nozzle. The flexible hose 71 supplying the nozzle isdrawn inside the tube 69, and is thus kept clear of the wire 10.

Trim produced by the nozzles of the trimming cutter 24 at the sides ofthe web may be taken from the pickup roll by the usual trimming rollerspressed against the latter, the trim adhering to the trimming rollersand then dropping into the couch pit.

The roll 16 could be the lowest of a press taking the web direct fromthe wire, e. g. the well-known stacked press with say three superimposedrolls. In that case, it is not convenient to lift and lower the pick-uprolls, but

' the break of contact with the web on the wire may then .be effected bymovement of the forward return roll, for

example by means of a motor similar to the motor 48. In a vacuum-formingmachine, the pick-up roll co-operates directly with the shorter wirepassing round the vacuum-forming roll. For starting up, the pick-up rollbring the web gradually to full width.

With a stacked press used in conjunction with vacuuni-forming, the wireisadjustable towards and from the bottom fixed suction press'roll, whichoperates as the pick-up roll.

In multiple vacuum-forming installations for multi-ply paper or board,each vacuum-forming unit may be provided with similartail-forming'mechanisms, operated in synchronism.

The invention includes the use of the travelling deckle in a suctiontransfer roll for the transfer 'of first the tail and finally the fullwidth of paper from one press to another (to a dryer section) ininstallations with separate press units operating in sequence in thepress section, with synchronism with the jet cutter nozzle andtravelling deckle at the wet end of the machine. The pickup rollcontaining this travelling deckle may either be a separate roll, or oneof the suction rolls of the press unit to which transfer is to be made.

The invention improves the efficiency of paper-making machines byextending automatic operation in starting up beyond what has previouslybeen possible, and reduces much of the hand manipulation required beforea full width of web and paper extends completely through the machine.Although hand manipulation of the tail into the dryer section may beessential, because the heavier felts of that section (wool or cotton,with or paper before entering the dryer section is with the bare toproll of the press.

What I claim is: i

1. Mechanism adapted for application to a paper-mak ing machine having aforming wire, the mechanism having in combination a vacuum pick-up roll,a sealing plate movable lengthwise within the roll to vary thelengthwise extent of the periphery of the roll exposed to vacuum, apaper-web cutting device disposed in advance of the pickup roll andmovable transversely to correspond with the lengthwise movement of thesaid sealing plate within the roll, and power means for simultaneouslyand progressively moving the cutting device and the sealing plateaxiallywithin the roll from corresponding respective positions in whichthe cutting device is adapted to sever a narrow strip of paper web andthe roll is able to apply vacuum only to that narrow strip tocorresponding respective positions in which the cutting device is clearof the full width that would be occupied by the width of paper to beproduced and the roll is able to apply vacuum to the whole of that fullwidth.

2. Mechanism adapted for application to a paper-making machine having aforming wire, the mechanism having in combination a vacuum pick-up roll,a deckle movable lengthwise within the roll to vary the lengthwiseextent of the periphery of the roll exposed to vacuum, a paper-webcutting device disposed in advance of the pick-up roll and movabletransversely to correspond with the lengthwise movement of the saiddeckle within the roll, and motor-driven traversing mechanism to movethe cutting device and the deckle Within the roll simultaneously andprogressively transversely of the machine.

3. A vacuum pick-up roll for a paper-making machine, said roll having aperforated shell, an internal suction box exposed to a width of theshell over the whole perforated length, a travelling cutting device, atravelling deckle within the box, and means for traversing the decklefrom a position near one end of the perforated length of the shell tothe other end of the perforated length of the shell.

4. A vacuum pick-up roll for a paper-making machine, said roll having aperforated shell, an internal suction box exposed to a width of theshell over the whole perforated length of the shell, a normally fixeddeckle within the box disposed at one end of the perforations in saidshell, means for giving a limited adjustment to that deckle with respectto one end of the perforated length of the shell, a travelling decklewithin the box, and means for traversing the traveling deckle from aposition near the fixed deckle to the other end of the perforated lengthof the shell.

5. A suction press for a paper-making machine, said press comprising asuction roll and at least one other press roll, and the suction rollhaving a perforated shell, an internal suction box exposed to a width ofthe shell over the whole perforated length of the shell, a travellingcutting device, a travelling deckle within the box, and means fortraversing the deckle from a position near one end of the perforatedlength of the shell to the other end of the perforated length of theshell.

6. A paper-making machine having a forming wire, a vacuum pick-up rolldisposed transversely of the wire, a suction press including a suctionroll, a transfer felt extending from the pick-up roll to the suctionroll, a paper-web cutting device disposed transversely of the wire inadvance of the pick-up roll, means movable within the pick-up andsuction rolls for varying the lengths of the rolls exposed to vacuum,and means for simultaneously moving in step the cutting device and themeans within the rolls transversely of the machine.

7. A paper-making machine comprising a forming wire, a vacuum pick-uproll disposed transversely of the wire, a jet cutter disposedtransversely of the wire in advance of the pick-up roll and including anozzle movable across the machine, means to position the nozzle near oneedge of the wire, a suction box within the pick-up roll, a decklemovable within the suction box from a position corresponding to the saidposition of the nozzle to a position at the other end of the roll, andmeans for simultaneously moving the nozzle and the deckle from theirinitial positions to the other side of the wire and the other end of theroll respectively.

8. A paper-making machine as in claim 7, comprising also a suction pressincluding a suction roll, a transfer felt extending from the pick-uproll to the suction roll, a suction box within the suction roll, saidsealing plate movable Within the suction box from a positioncorresponding to the initial positions of the nozzle and the sealingplate of the pick-up roll to a position at the 8 other end of thesuction roll, and the means for'moving the nozzle serving to. move bothsealing plates in step with itself and with each other.

9. A vacuum pick-up roll for a paper-making machine embodying a movablecutting device, said roll having within it means movable lengthwise oversubstantially the whole length of the roll to vary the lengthwise extent of the periphery of the roll exposed to vacuum, and means foreffecting such lengthwise movement simultaneously in accordance with themovement of the cutting device.

10. In a paper-making machine of the forming wire type, the combinationof a vacuum pick-up roll disposed transversely of the wire, means withinthe roll movable lengthwise over substantially the whole length of theroll to vary the lengthwise extent of the periphery of the roll exposedto vacuum, a paper-web cutting device disposed transversely of the wirein advance of the pickup roll, and means for moving the cutting deviceprogressively across the Wire and varying the exposure of the roll tovacuum in step with the movement of the cutting device.

11. Mechanism adapted for application to a paper-making machine having aforming wire, the mechanism having in combination a vacuum pick-up roll,means movable lengthwise within the roll to vary the lengthwise extentof the periphery of the roll exposed to vacuum, a paperweb cuttingdevice disposed in advance of the pick-up roll and movable transverselyto correspond with the lengthwise movement of the said means within theroll, motor-driven traversing mechanism to move the cutting device andthe means within the roll simultaneously and progressively transverselyof the machine, and motordriven mechanism for moving the cutting deviceacross the whole width of the wire and lifting the pick-up roll from thewire to render the pick-up roll ineffective.

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